A sensitisation workshop for women took place yesterday at Mbankomo, near Yaounde.

In spite of the efforts already put in place for people to register on the electoral list, it has been noticed that most yet unregistered Cameroonians are women. Because these women have not registered on the electoral register, they cannot vote. It is within this backdrop that the Minister of Women’s Empowerment and the Family (MINPROFF), Professor Marie Therese Abena Ondoa, yesterday, May 24, 2016 re-echoed the call for women to massively register on the electoral list. She made the call while presiding over a sensitisation seminar at the Mbankomo Women’s Empowerment Centre in the Mefou and Akono Division of the Centre Region.

Presenting the situation of women’s registration on the electoral list nationwide, Prof Abena Ondoa said figures stand at 40.64 per cent. At the Mefou and Akono Division of the Centre Region, the number of people that have registered on the electoral list stands at 630 out of a population estimated at 13,000 with 168 women registered, giving a percentage of 36.36 per cent.  The Minister of Women’s Empowerment noted that the constitution of the country guarantees equality between men and women and the right to vote is an obligation.

Women according to Marie Therese Abena Ondoa “do not have to allow others take decisions in their place. They have to make sure that their voice is heard and their votes casted. They need to know that they have to fully participate in any political activity in the country.” While the women were receiving lectures on the participation of women in politics in the Parliament and the Senate, the local team of ELECAM staff on the other hand were busy registering women on the electoral list.